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Urban Light - 202 Lit Lampposts

A closely grouped assemblage of 202 cast iron street lamps lights a public plaza on Wilshire Boulevard, next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Artist and art professor Chris Burden started collecting the ornate Art Deco fixtures in 2000, after he found two at a flea market. He continued to acquire the old lights from Los Angeles and surrounding cities, arranging them outside his studio in Topanga Canyon. Burden eventually created "Urban Light" for the museum, with over 200 lampposts, a major component of the art museum's outdoor campus renovation in 2008. The installation quickly became a popular tourist spot, and continues to attract a stream of Instagram and selfie shutterbugs. Burden died in 2015.

In early 2018, to celebrate the artwork's 10th anniversary, its 309 incandescent bulbs were replaced with LEDs. This saved energy and also eliminated a safety hazard: the hot incandescent bulbs would sometimes explode during rainstorms.